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YouTube API Compliance Updates

All software that hooks into YouTube's API is currently going through a "compliance review".

The purpose of the review is to make sure 3rd party applications are following new guidelines and standards imposed in their updated YouTube API Terms Of Service.

The main area that TubeBuddy will be hit is that we can no longer display "Derived Statistics". This means any number that is calculated. As a simple example, we can't show an Engagement Rate because it's calculated: (Comments + Likes + Dislikes) / Views. And we can't show Views per Day because it's calculated (Total Views / # Days ago Video Published). This resulted in us having to wipe-out about half of our Videolytics tool. In place of the stats that are being taken out, we plan to put a list of "Best Practice" items so you can see if the video is properly optimized.

Other areas affected by the compliance updates include our Animated GIF generator. We can no long modify YouTube video content so we have to remove the feature. Instead, we will be directing people to GIPHY.com and pre-populating your video. The good news is that they offer a ton more features than we did when it comes to animated GIFs so you'll actually be better off.

Another area that we had to change significantly is the Best Time to Publish tool. YouTube no longer allows us to tell you the best time to publish. We have to give you instructions on how to find the best time to publish.

There are a couple other areas that may be affected but at this point, we're not sure and will update as we learn more.

It's a bummer to see all of the hours we put into these features completely wiped out but at this point, we're at the mercy of YouTube.